Plumb had been invited to her 10-year high school reunion. That is when she decided her life needed a change.

She said she put on 120 pounds since graduating from high school.

"When you're getting ready for social things and you're going to go to a party and you're trying to figure out what to wear and you're to the point where you've tried on everything you own and you're in tears because you look horrible in everything you're going to wear and nothing's gonna hide 50 pounds!" Plumb said.

Plumb said a perfect storm led her to use food to manage her feelings. One factor was her father’s death.

"When you are heavy you are aware, especially when you eat in public, everyone's watching you and judging you and thinking, ‘Well that's why she's fat. That's why she's overweight because she's eating that,’” Plumb said.

The reunion gave Plumb the motivation she said she needed to get her weight under control.

"I had to get my mind right. I had to get my life right. I had to be prepared to start the diet, full force and follow it every day,” Plumb said.

She said she worked out religiously and changed her routines. Half the battle was her diet.

"I had to take out things like pop, lots and lots of desserts, ice cream, snack food, potato chips and junk food,” she said.

She said she started with short term goals. In the first week, Plumb said she lost 11 pounds. Plumb kept up her diet and workouts and after 11 months she lost 150 pounds. She’s now focused on helping other people achieve the same success she has.

“There's a humongous journey with your emotional state as well as changing your lifestyle and your food and learning to exercise and about learning to love yourself and how to make all of these pieces fit together. I've been there and I've done it. Now I can help (other people) go through the journey because I know a lot of the things they're going to deal with,” Plumb said.

Plumb is a personal trainer at Camergo Fitness in Madeira. She said she especially enjoys watching ‘The Biggest Loser’ on NBC because she connects so well with the contestants.